"In a world that has begun to believe that financial profit is the only religion, sometimes not wanting money is more frightening to capitalist society than acts of terrorism."
Arundhati Ray

22 May 2007

Hit the wall as quickly as possible

C02 emissions rose three times faster after 2000: report

World emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide increased three times faster after 2000 than in the 1990s, putting them at the high end of a range of forecasts by an international climate change panel, scientists reported on Monday. At the same time, a trend toward cutting Earth's energy intensity -- the ratio of how much energy is needed to produce a unit of gross domestic product -- appears to have stalled or even reversed in recent years, the researchers reported. "This paper should be a rallying cry," said Chris Field, a co-author of the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Field said the study found that between 2000 and 2004, worldwide carbon dioxide emissions increased by 3.1% a year, about three times as fast as the 1.1% rate of increase in the 1990s. In addition to energy intensity, the speed-up is also due to a rise in how much carbon it takes to make the energy people use. Other factors include growth in world population and individual gross domestic product, the study said. Field noted the scientific consensus that carbon emissions contribute to global climate change. Much of the accelerated carbon dioxide emissions come from China, where a fast-growing economy is powered largely by coal-fired energy. The developing world, including India and China, and some of the least-developed countries accounted for 73% of the growth in global emissions in 2004 and contain about 80% of world population, the study found. By contrast, the study said the world's richest countries contributed about 60% of total emissions in 2004 and account for 77% of cumulative emissions since the start of the Industrial Revolution. The panel has said that global carbon dioxide emissions must fall 50% to 85% by 2050 to stop the Earth from heating up more than two degrees C. Higher temperature rises could prompt more deadly floods, droughts and heat waves. (Vancouver Sun 070522)

No change will occur until the cheap easy lifestyle is all gone. Then it will all be necessitated hardship and woe. We need to top off the energy shortage considerations by bringing on severe climate change even sooner than planned. Burn it all up, people, time's a wastin'! Overconsumption is the rule of the day! Don't fall behind! Act now!